For many students around the world, the summer months are a break from the rigors of classwork. In France, however, Ag2r-La Mondiale rider Romain Bardet is enrolled in an utterly unique form of summer school. And it could well be called “Tour de France 101.”

Or, considering that at the second rest day Bardet sits third overall while wearing the white jersey awarded to the best young rider, he could be fulfilling honors requirements.

Bardet, you see, is actually finishing his masters degree at the Grenoble School of Management, in a special program designed for elite athletes who do not want to sacrifice education for sport.

Throughout the year, while at the races or team training camps, Bardet, 23, fulfills his course requirements via correspondence classes. He travels to Grenoble only to take tests. In between meals and massages, Bardet can most often be found in his room, schoolbooks close at hand. And just last month, the day after finishing fifth in the Dauphine Criterium, Bardet reported to class in Grenoble for his final exams.

From a young age, Bardet has been passionate about two things in life, bicycle racing and learning. “From his early teens he just focused on cycling and his studies. Already with those two things, he pretty much didn't have time for anything else,” says his sister Lisa, a student at France's prestigious Science Po University, who is working as an intern on the Tour this summer.

“Quite honestly, I never ever thought I would earn my living racing bikes.” Bardet told me just before the Tour de France. “I just always enjoyed cycling while at school. Already in undergraduate school, I was winning races while going to class 20-25 hours a week. It was a good mix. And even today I see cycling as a way to make me more well-rounded. I want to be the best I can be, but I don't just judge my success in life by my success on the bike.”

While mixing sports and studies is common in the US, until recently it was a rarity here in France where cycling was largely considered a blue-collar sport. The stereotype is quickly changing, however, as Bardet, FDJ.fr rider Jeremy Roy, and others have managed to juggle academics and bike racing.

What sets Bardet apart though is his ability to excel at both. When he turned professional in 2012, Bardet was quickly pegged as one of the country's brightest hopes and already last year he was the best-placed French rider in the Tour. But with his stellar performance in this year's Tour de France, Bardet has instantly morphed from hope to hero.

Such expectations have thwarted numerous up-and-coming French hopes in a country so desperate to finally find a successor to Bernard Hinault, the last Frenchman to win the Tour de France in 1985. Observing Bardet handle the accolades and attention here at the Tour, one is struck by his even demeanor—cool without being cold, personable without being pretentious. But he is quickly making his mark both inside and outside the peloton.

“Already the first time I met him, I was impressed with his lucidity, his ability to integrate so much information, not just about the race, but about what it takes to be a good professional,” said Jean Montois, chief cycling journalist for Agence France Presse for over 30 years.

“His determination is rare, very rare,” Montois continues. “Even when he was a neo-pro I got the impression that he was looking ahead, that he saw his career in several phases. But what he is learning here on the Tour this year is invaluable. Simply wearing the white jersey will give him so much experience. Already he has learned to deal with all of the added protocol that goes along with wearing one of the distinctive jerseys. Already he understands what it means to always get back to the hotel later, to always be in the public eye. “

Be it on or off the bike, Bardet appears passionate about learning. “My studies have really helped me analyze the sport of cycling and they also gave me a sort of linear approach to the sport. Like in academics, you have to do tests before you can get a result.” Yet Bardet knows race results are more unpredictable. “In cycling, you can always pull an upset and win a big race. That's the beauty of sport!”

Here at the Tour in fact, he may well pull off that upset, as he outrides many cyclists more experienced and decorated than he. Whether he manages to retain the white jersey or the podium all the way to Paris remains to be seen. Countryman Thibaut Pinot, 24, also qualifies for the white-jersey competition. He is just 16 seconds behind Bardet in fourth. And American Tejay van Garderen and Bardet's own teammate Jean-Christophe Peraud, both barely a minute behind, are more experienced in time trialing, with the crucial 54-kilometer time trial coming on Stage 20.

But Bardet does not appear obsessed with the final result. Coming into this year's Tour, his only goal was to finish better than his 15th place from 2013, something that he has more than assured.

“We talk every night, but we barely talk about the race,” his sister says. “We talk about the ambiance at the Tour, but mostly though we talk about what is going on in the world.”